Xbox’s Phil Spencer Hasn’t Beaten Cuphead, Has A Good Excuse Though

As the Head of Xbox, Phil Spencer played a key role in bringing the critically acclaimed platformer Cuphead to Xbox One and PC as an exclusive for Microsoft. One of the perks of his position is getting to play games ahead of release. He told us at the Brazil Game Show today that while he beat all the bosses ahead of launch, he hasn’t completed the retail version of the game–and he has a good reason.

“I think I finished all of the bosses at one point before it launched. But no. I’ve been traveling for four weeks in a row so I haven’t had much chance to play,” Spencer said. “It is [an excuse].”

Spencer also told us that Cuphead is selling “very well,” though he didn’t get into specifics about sales numbers. “I am so happy for the studio; they worked a long time on the game. And to have the success they’re having–it’s selling very well,” he said. “The reaction has been great. It’s just fantastic when those kind of things come together.”

As part of Microsoft’s exclusivity deal for Cuphead, the game is staying exclusive to Xbox One and PC forever. It is never coming to PlayStation 4. Spencer said the version of Cuphead that exists today might never have happened were it not for Microsoft’s investment.

“The team had certain ambition about what they wanted to go do. And together with them we wanted to invest more,” he said. “We saw more opportunity. And what that turned into was us having an exclusive game on our platform. That’s a game that probably wouldn’t have happened the way it did if we didn’t invest the way we did.”

Developer StudioMDHR has announced that Cuphead has gone platinum, having sold more than 1 million copies since launch. It did not provide any kind of breakdown between Xbox One and PC, which are the only two platforms Cuphead is available on currently.